Troubles at Missouri State

[MSUDuo]

It's really a shame. Lusk looked like the right hire to follow Cuonzo on paper, but sometimes things don't work out. He was a hot name an MSU absolutely did what looked like the right thing by investing in him.

Not to open and old wound and this is totally hypothetical, but would MSU have been better off just keeping Barry? He got you really close to the tournament and frankly got jobbed not getting in. Cuonzo comes in and wins a league title, but didn't give you a shot for an at large and Lusk has the program trending down.

I compare it to a football program that gets fed up with winning 9 games a year and not quite getting over the hump, firing their coach and ending up winning 6 or 7 games a year (see Nebraska, Texas, Georgia)

No. We may not have been where we are but we weren't going to be any better than what we were.

Here is a question for Missouri State fans, does Paul Lusk survive with a 3rd place finish in the MVC? From the outside, I would think that he has a pretty good shot at keeping his gig with a 3rd place Valley finish.

Yes. Only the PIG will get Lusk out of here as our President, Clif Smart, is on record for saying that our goal for this year was "20 wins and avoiding the PIG"

[MSUDuo]

They also just spent 24 million renovating their football stadium

This is why this seems so ridiculous. The University just passed a student athletic fee and Moats is still finding a way to lose ungodly amounts of money. Moats should never had offered the extension to Lusk. He needs to go along with Lusk.

When did Lusk look like a good hire? I missed that one.

Lusk has one of the mostly highly thought of BCS assistants at the time of his hire.

[TheObserver]

Yes. Only the PIG will get Lusk out of here as our President, Clif Smart, is on record for saying that our goal for this year was "20 wins and avoiding the PIG"

And they can afford the buyout? I'm not sure I buy that.

[Cdizzle]

It's all there.

In a sealed manila folder.

[Stickboy46]

Yes. Only the PIG will get Lusk out of here as our President, Clif Smart, is on record for saying that our goal for this year was "20 wins and avoiding the PIG"

And they can afford the buyout? I'm not sure I buy that.

They would love for you to buy that ... or anything .. no seriously just buy something MSU .. they need money.

[BEARZ77]

I believe the buyout will happen unless Lusk pulls off late season miracles like winning the MVC Tourney. Private donations are in place according to many and were last year, but with the returning players and recruits, Moats wanted to give Lusk a chance to capitalize on it and turn things around. Moats himself lately has said we don't have a spending [expense] issue , we have a revenue one. It's been well documented that even if the $375,000 buyout had to come from the University, fairly modest increases in attendance and Bear's fund donations by the second year would not only have paid for it, but added significant revenue to the total above the cost. If Lusk is retained the prospects for season ticket sales and donations will continue to slide and even if the team did well next year, the perks of that would be late in coming from attendance etc. as the season progressed.

The issue with the Track and Field Tourney is not because the facility needs any repairs; it's a new facility, but to meet requirements a javelin throwing area would have to be added at a close proximity HS at a cost the University isn't willing to take on at a time we are having to look at tightening the budget anyway because of State Budget cuts. Javelin evidently is not a required event at all Track and Field events, but is included at the MVC meet. Prior to the announced State budget cuts, MSU had planned to finance the javelin throw area.

No doubt things are tight but not so bleak as many represent; MSU campus has undergone massive facility additions and renovations in the last 10 years starting with JQH, and has outstanding facilities across the board now for most sports , student activities, athletics academic support, and the like. We still fund more athletic teams than many other Valley schools and have much better facilities than most. We just suck at MBB[lusk] and historically football. Enrollment is up overall, but things are very tight with State $$$$$ in Missouri. Recently other schools have cut some sports[ SIU last year I think], not sure we will.

All that said; it is Missouri State and Moats and Smart have been just not that[Smart] when it has come to being willing to move aggressively for the sake of the basketball program. So we shall see.

[MSUDuo]

I believe the buyout will happen unless Lusk pulls off late season miracles like winning the MVC Tourney. Private donations are in place according to many and were last year, but with the returning players and recruits, Moats wanted to give Lusk a chance to capitalize on it and turn things around. Moats himself lately has said we don't have a spending [expense] issue , we have a revenue one. It's been well documented that even if the $375,000 buyout had to come from the University, fairly modest increases in attendance and Bear's fund donations by the second year would not only have paid for it, but added significant revenue to the total above the cost. If Lusk is retained the prospects for season ticket sales and donations will continue to slide and even if the team did well next year, the perks of that would be late in coming from attendance etc. as the season progressed.

The issue with the Track and Field Tourney is not because the facility needs any repairs; it's a new facility, but to meet requirements a javelin throwing area would have to be added at a close proximity HS at a cost the University isn't willing to take on at a time we are having to look at tightening the budget anyway because of State Budget cuts. Javelin evidently is not a required event at all Track and Field events, but is included at the MVC meet. Prior to the announced State budget cuts, MSU had planned to finance the javelin throw area.

No doubt things are tight but not so bleak as many represent; MSU campus has undergone massive facility additions and renovations in the last 10 years starting with JQH, and has outstanding facilities across the board now for most sports , student activities, athletics academic support, and the like. We still fund more athletic teams than many other Valley schools and have much better facilities than most. We just suck at MBB[lusk] and historically football. Enrollment is up overall, but things are very tight with State $$$$$ in Missouri. Recently other schools have cut some sports[ SIU last year I think], not sure we will.

All that said; it is Missouri State and Moats and Smart have been just not that[Smart] when it has come to being willing to move aggressively for the sake of the basketball program. So we shall see.

Always going to look worse from the outside. It's a big change but one change would get things turned back into the other direction. Whether our leaders have the vision to pull it off remains to be seen.

[Ricardo del Rio]

The last couple of days have had some interesting announcements coming out of MSU. I know their fans are begging to fire Lusk, but it doesn't look like there is any chance they can afford that.

Yesterday the AD Announced that he's looking to cut 750k from next years budget.

http://www.ozarksfirst.com/news/msu-ath ... /651829533

Then today, they announce that they are withdrawing from hosting the 2017 MVC Track and Field Championships because they can't afford to fix up the facilities.

http://missouristatebears.com/news/2017 ... -meet.aspx

That's bad news, hopefully they can get things figured out there. I have absolutely no knowledge of anything Missouri State/Springfield, MO, but didn't they just get a new basketball arena or at least get the JQH renovated?

I'm not 100% familiar but i believe the "JQH (John Q Hammonds)" donor passed away a few years ago or something like that. I also believe his company which owns a bunch of hotels filed for bankruptcy last year.

The Chapter 11 filing has more to do with legal issues/actions than financial issues. The Trust is still making its payments to the University for JQH Arena

It's no secret that Bears Fund donations are down and basketball season and single game ticket sales are down. Both which point back to Lusk.

Lusk being bought out will be done with private donations, if it does happen.

We can't afford to not get rid of Lusk. Needs to happen this April.

You shoulda gone the Division 1-A football route. The money would have just flowed in waves to your coffers.

[MSUDuo]

You shoulda gone the Division 1-A football route. The money would have just flowed in waves to your coffers.